I admit that organ transcriptions are not everyone’s cup of tea and I understand why. But in their defense they arose because some transcriptionists, Edwin Lemare for example (and by far the most famous), wanted to bring symphonic music to people who might never hear it. Most of the organ transcriptions out there owe their existence in some form or fashion to his almost a century ago. His idea was not to try to imitate the original orchestral version, but to convey its (here it comes) Affekt and “surround”. Well I’m always on the lookout for a good transcription, the Ride of the Walkyries (which has had several organ transcriptions, the one by Anthony Newman at St. John the Divine in New York City being the most famous, and he acknowledged his indebtedness to LeMare’s transcription), or Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre” being another (an excellent live performance transcription by Olivier Latry is available). Jonathan Scott is perhaps the most famous current transcriptionist, and I’ve posted his excellent transcription of the Overture to the Marriage of Figaro, as well as his transcription of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture here. But this is an absolutely stunning transcription of the Scherzo from Beethoven’s 9th symphony on a superb Polish organ in excellent “wet” acoustical surround that has to be heard (and seen) to be believed:
